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What she says: I’m fine.

What she means: I understand the Chronicles of Narnia was at its heart a fairytale with theological analogies for children. But why did Lewis never address how they had to adapted to life on Earth again. Why does no one talk about how the Pevensies had to grow up with a kingdom of responsibilities on their shoulders, only to return to Earth and be children. Take Lucy, she was youngest and perhaps she adapted more quickly-but she had the memories and mind of a grown woman in an adolescent body. Edmund literally found himself in Narnia, he went from a selfish boy to mature and experienced man. He found a purpose and identity through his experiences to come back as just Edmund, Peter’s younger brother. Did people wonder why the sullen, sour boy came back, carrying himself like a wisened king? Did his mother wonder why he and Peter suddenly got along so well, why they spent so much time together now? And Susan, the girl of logistics and reason came back with a difference in her. She learned how to be a diplomat and ambassador, Susan the Gentle had to live to endure not-so-gentle circumstances. She had the respect she wanted, only to be just another teen girl. And Peter, he entered the manhood and maturity he so wanted. He earned the responsibility and stripes he yearned for. He learned to command armies and conduct the menial tasks demanded of a king to rule a nation. But he came back, appearing to be just anther glory-hungry boy. Not to mention the PTSD they must have struggled with. Especially Edmund. How often did he wake up in a sweat, screaming a sibling or comrade’s name? His parents believe it’s the war, but it’s an entirely different one he has nightmares about. How often did he have trouble with flashbacks and mood swings? And how many times did he and Peter sit over a newspaper or near the radio listening to reports on the troops. How often did they pour over lost battles and debate better strategies. Did their parents ever wonder why they seemed to understand flight war so well? How long was it before they stopped discussing these things in front of people? Why does no one talk about this??? 

Why am i fucking crying

Why does no one talk about how the Pevensies had to grow up with a kingdom of responsibilities on their shoulders, only to return to Earth and be children

It’s not addressed because it’s understood. It was the shared experience of the generation. You are describing coming home from World War One, battle wearied and aged beyond belief, but walking around in the body of a youth. C S Lewis went to the front line of the Somme on his nineteenth birthday and went back to complete uni in 1918 after demob.

Not seen it with this very very pertinent addition before

the assassination of franz ferdinand was actually the most hilariously botched assassination attempt of all time though like i can’t even explain to you how badly it went i mean there were six guys and the first one chickened out and the second one forgot to factor in the delay on a hand grenade so it exploded like three cars past the archduke’s so the guy took a cyanide pill and threw himself into a river, but the cyanide was expired and the river was six inches deep so the police just pulled him out and took him off to jail and then everyone else basically gave up and headed home, and then the driver of the archduke took a wrong turn and the car stalled next to the last of the six guys, and he was just like “what a crazy random happenstance” and started world war one

You forgot to mention that the last guy only happened to kill Franz because he had just come out of the sandwich shop where the car stopped

It is obvious to even the most casual observer that this particular event has been meddled with by at least two groups of time travelers trying to change history.  Please, if you invent a time machine, leave the assassination of Ferdinand alone; the space-time continuum there is already showing obvious cracks from the strain.

the story of how ww1 was started by a bunch of incompetent children is my fave historical fact of all time - (and I do mean children, since all 5 of the initially arrested assassination conspirators were minors under austrian law at the time) 

and the fact that some of them initially banded together to commit, like, just any unspecified act of terrorism,not necessarily assassinate the archduke, as a sort of early 20th century assassination fandom, because they idolized a guy from their town who had previously tried to kill a high ranking bosnian official, meaning terrorism was just the major teen fad of their time

but my absolute fave little factoid that really shows these were just completely regular 19 year old boys in every way is that all of them took a virginity pledge so nothing would distract them in their revolutionary mission

except gavrilo princip had a gf called jelena, and on the night before the assassination he decided he really didn’t want to die a virgin, so he arranged a rendez-vous with jelena in a park and tried to explain that it’s vitally important that they have sex right then, but he couldn’t tell her why because he didn’t want to implicate her in the assassination

so obviously with it being 1914 she says no, he goes home, then goes on to start ww1 in the morning, but what makes the story for me is that when they later interviewed jelena about gavrilo and the assassination, after telling the story about them meeting in the park she said the following (i’m paraphrasing slightly)

‘i’m not surprised. gavrilo was so pissed that night (about them not having sex) he was ready to shoot god, let alone an emperor ’

“Europe today is a powder keg and the leaders are like men smoking in an arsenal … A single spark will set off an explosion that will consume us all … I cannot tell you when that explosion will occur, but I can tell you where … Some damned foolish thing in the Balkans will set it off.”

-Otto von Bismarck, 1878

I love history.

AND THIS IS WHY I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE being a history teacher! For serious.

The Battling Badassery of Flora Sandes,

Flora Sandes was not your average Edwardian Era British woman.  Born to an Irish family in Yorkshire, she had a spark of individuality and boldness that was atypical of young women of the times.  Morever was the lifestyle she led, as her favorite childhood hobbies were fencing, horesback riding, racecar driving, and shooting.

When World War I began in 1914 she volunteered for the war effort by becoming a nurse.  At the age of 38, she was placed on detached service with the Serbian Red Cross, aiding the Serbian Army in the fight against the attacking Austro-Hungarian Empire.  After one particularly bloody battle in which the Serbian Army was forced into a chaotic retreat, Sandes was separated from her unit.  Rather than return to nursing, Sandes did something unthinkable for an early 20th century British woman, she volunteered for service with a Serbian combat unit on the frontlines.

The Serbians during World War I are especially noted for being the toughest and most ruthless soldiers of the war.  After all Serbia was a small nation being invaded by a large empire.  Outgunned and outnumberd 10 to 1, the Serbians relied upon toughness and ruggedness in order to survive the Austro-Hungarian onslaught.  Flora was no exception; she could drink, cuss, and brawl with the best of them.  Gaining a reputation as a fierce combat soldier, she was particularly noted for being an excellent shot with a revolver and a deadly master of bayonet fighting. She was also assigned to an elite unit called the “Iron Regiment”, one can probably assume that you have to be one hell of a badass to join a combat unit called the “Iron Regiment”. As the war progressed, she advanced in rank from private, to corporal, sergeant, then finally to sergeant-major, the highest non-commissioned rank in the army. When she wasn’t busy fighting in the trenches, she wrote letters back home to British newspapers detailing the plight of Serbia, asking for aid from the British people. In one instance, she was able to raise enough money to replace her regiment’s tattered uniforms with new clothing and buy new weapons.

In 1916 at the Battle of Bittola, after a particularly bloody bought of hand to hand combat, Sandes was severely wounded by a grenade blast.  The wound was bad enough that she was unable to resume combat service, in fact she barely survived the year long recovery period from her grievous wounds.  For her actions at Bittola Sandes was awarded the Order of the Karađorđe’s Star, the highest Serbian award for courage and gallantry. 

After recovering from her wounds, Sandes spent the rest of the war running her own hospital and raising money for the Serbian cause.  After the war ended in 1918, she was well enough that she resumed her military career.  To her surprise, she was given an officers commission with the rank of captain and assigned command of the Iron Regiment.  Sandes retired in 1922 with the rank of major, married a Russian White Army general in 1927, published an autobiography, and traveled the world giving lectures on her wartime experiences.  When the Germans invaded Yugoslavia during World War II Sandes was recalled to military service, but the Germans overran the country before she could be mobilized.  She and her husband were briefly interned before being released on parole. She returned to England where she lived out the rest of her life, passing in 1956 at the age of 80.

John Singer Sargent’s studies for Gassed, 1918.

(Source.)

Taking a moment of well deserved rest, troopers of the 101st sit before the Great War memorial with some French children they, and other Allied forces, recently liberated from German occupation.

Mixed Messages: 1917 (via Shorpy Historical Photo Archive)

They are pretty harsh on queue jumpers.

A 1900s medicine kit including ampoules of medicine. 

A British soldier “shakes hands” with a kitten on a snowy bank, Neulette, 1917.

Attention fellow History/Game Enthusiasts

You should truly investigate the following game reminiscent of a cross between All Quiet on the Western Front and Silent Hill.  It’s free and available on Windows/Mac through the following link: (via 1916 :: Der Unbekannte Krieg)

For the foreseeable future, I’ll be playing this while buried beneath numerous blankets, Pickelhaube equipped, seeking refuge from the rain.

Corporal James Coull and his messenger dogs. Photographed near Villers-Bretonneux, in 1918.

This lovely photograph is from the Australian War Memorial collection on the Flickr Commons. They provide the following information about the photograph:

Cathedral in Ruin, Ypres c. 1916 (via Imperial War Museums)